


Expensive Mistakes

by tethrasing



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Pillars Prompts Weekly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 13:11:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14916005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tethrasing/pseuds/tethrasing
Summary: Suddenly, Brianna got the feeling they were being watched. She restrained herself from looking around and risking drawing attention to herself and more importantly, Aloth.She gently grabbed Aloth’s wrist to stop him and leaned in. “I think we’re being watched,” she whispered.





	Expensive Mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for pillars prompt #23: Your Watcher – or one of the companions, or your whole party – is walking through Defiance Bay when they get the sense they’re being followed. What happens? How do they find out who it is, or does their tail’s identity elude them? Is there a confrontation? Does your Watcher/companion/party fall into a trap, and if so, how will they get out?

“You take me to nicest places, Brianna,” Aloth said sardonically.

 

The Watcher barked out a laugh. The pair were leaving The Salty Mast where they had been investigating a string of disappearances.

 

“Not your idea of a good night out, I take it?” Brianna asked as they stepped out into the sunlight.

 

“No,” he replied, “I much prefer quiet evenings in with good wine and better friends.”

 

Brianna smiled at him. “I’d take that over a brothel any day,” she said.

 

Aloth gave her a small smile in return. Suddenly, Brianna got the feeling they were being watched. She restrained herself from looking around and risking drawing attention to herself and more importantly, Aloth.

 

She gently grabbed Aloth’s wrist to stop him and leaned in. “I think we’re being watched,” she whispered.

 

“Are you certain?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed. She watched as his right hand inched towards his weapon.

 

She shook her head. “No, but we’ve made some enemies here in the city. And there’s always the chance someone is after the bounty those Readceran bastards put on my head,” she thought for a moment before she continued, “If we are being watched, they’ve already seen you so there’s no sense in telling you to leave me.”

 

“I wouldn’t listen, anyway,” Aloth said.

 

Brianna’s breath caught in her throat. She felt an emotion she couldn’t put a name to swirl around in her gut. Gratefulness, perhaps. Maybe fondness. It had been years since she had anyone she could rely on the way she could Aloth. _Gods, but I am lucky to have stumbled on him._

“I think we should try to lose them. I don’t want to risk leading them back to the inn where the others are if I can help it,” she said.

 

Aloth nodded. “I’ll follow your lead,” he said.

 

Brianna slipped her hand into Aloth’s slightly bigger one and led him deeper into the crowd. She wasn’t as familiar with Ondra’s Gift as she was with the other districts in Defiance Bay, so she headed for the path to First Fires. She could feel her heart racing, but Aloth’s hand in hers kept her grounded. She gave his hand a quick squeeze and felt him squeeze hers in return.

 

After some time had passed, Brianna finally saw her goal. She led Aloth into the ruins of the Temple of Woedica. She ran behind a crumbling pillar, dragging Aloth with her. Brianna drew her bow and knocked an arrow. Aloth grabbed his rod and grimoire. They waited quietly for the sounds of approaching footsteps.

 

At first, all was quiet. _Maybe I overreacted_ , Brianna thought. _Please let me have overreacted_. Then, three sets of footsteps moved into the temple. Brianna caught Aloth’s eye and she held her fist up, the group’s sign to wait. Aloth nodded.

 

Brianna strained her ears to hear where the footsteps were moving. It sounded like one was moving to their right and one far to their left. That left one near the entrance. Unless her ears were playing tricks on her.

 

Brianna turned to her right and readied an arrow. Behind her, Aloth prepared to fire his rod.

 

Several seconds later, a man holding a rapier and a shield rounded the corner but didn’t see Brianna and Aloth in time to defend himself. Brianna quickly killed him with a headshot before he could make a sound.

 

She motioned for Aloth to follow her and the two of them trailed the dead man’s path back towards the entrance. Just as Brianna had suspected, there was a woman with a crossbow guarding the only exit.

 

Brianna drew back to fire an arrow at her, but the woman caught sight of her just before she let the arrow loose. The arrow missed its mark, hitting the woman in the chest instead of the head. Brianna let out a curse as Aloth fired a string of powerful missiles at their enemy. The woman dropped to the ground, dead.

 

Just then, Brianna felt someone grab her from behind. “Aloth!” she cried out but fell silent when she felt a blade at her throat.

 

The next few seconds seemed to happen very slowly, and yet all at once. Brianna heard Aloth cast a spell and as suddenly as the blade had appeared at her throat, it was gone. The man who had been holding her fell to the ground. She stumbled forward, desperate to place as much distance between her and him as possible. She heard him screaming, apparently in terror, and when she turned to look at him, he seemed to be looking at something she couldn’t see.

 

Brianna grabbed her bow and ran to Aloth. “Come on, time to go!” she said in a rush.

 

“What about him?” Aloth asked, glancing at the man on the ground.

 

“What _about_ him? He’s not a threat, not right now anyway,” Brianna said.

 

“That’s not what I meant, Brianna. We should find out why they attacked us,” Aloth said.

 

“Right,” Brianna replied, taking a breath, “Of course, you’re right. Let’s check the bodies.”

 

Aloth moved to the fallen woman’s body but found nothing. He heard Brianna move back towards him from the yelling man.

 

She showed him a piece of parchment. “Here, I found it. They were after me, they wanted the Readceran bounty. Now let’s go, before his screaming draws attention.”

 

He followed Brianna and they ran out of the temple. Once they had put some distance between themselves and their attackers, they slowed to a walk. Aloth stopped Brianna just outside of the Goose and Fox.

 

“Brianna, are you alright?”

 

“Yeah, completely fine” she brought her hand up to her neck, “Didn’t even break the skin.”

 

“That’s not what I meant,” Aloth said, frowning.

 

Brianna sighed. She looked away for a long moment before meeting his gaze again.

 

“This was my fault. I should have brought more people with us…Sagani and Edér, they could have come with us. I put you in danger. I’m sorry, Aloth.”

 

Aloth let out a huff. “This was hardly your fault. You didn’t place the bounty. You didn’t send those people,” Aloth said, taking a step closer to Brianna, “Perhaps we could have been more cautious, but no one can predict the future. Not even a watcher.”

 

Brianna took a deep breath. She seemed to be considering Aloth’s words.

 

“From now on, we’ll be better prepared. Just in case,” she said. “I’ll try not to let this happen again.”

 

Brianna and Aloth went in to the Goose and Fox to let the others know what happened. Brianna couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t the last she would hear of bounty hunters. _We got lucky this time,_ she thought, _but our luck might not hold out. I would never forgive myself if Aloth got hurt because of someone trying to get to me._

**Author's Note:**

> The spell Aloth used was Ryngrim’s Enervating Terror.


End file.
